The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has adopted a revised set of stormwater regulations under N.J.A.C. 7:8 that will affect land development practices within the state. As of March 2, 2021, the amended rules require the use of decentralized green infrastructure practices and provide a more objective review process for projects.
Previous regulations required the use of nonstructural stormwater management strategies to “the maximum extent practicable.” The new rules eliminate this subjective language and instead provide a clearly articulated, mathematically-based set of standards for stormwater design compliance. The previous nonstructural strategies have been relocated within the rule to function as planning principles instead of conformance review criteria.
A second but equally important change relates to permitted stormwater modeling criteria. As explained in Chapters 5, 9, and 13 of the Best Management Practices (BMP) Manual, infiltration of captured stormwater through best management practices (BMPs) is now permitted in engineering calculations. This change will result in smaller stormwater BMPs, thus maximizing developable areas on a site.
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